Deane Retirement Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 12,279 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,491,000. Mastercard makes up approximately 1.2% of Deane Retirement Strategies Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,807,040 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,176,378,000 after acquiring an additional 1,814,116 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 22,644.6% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,685,146 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $189,528,000 after acquiring an additional 1,677,737 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 24.6% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,660,220 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $411,665,000 after acquiring an additional 722,600 shares in the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 1,000.9% in the first quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 783,757 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $88,149,000 after acquiring an additional 712,562 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OppenheimerFunds Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 24.8% in the first quarter. OppenheimerFunds Inc. now owns 3,584,158 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $403,111,000 after acquiring an additional 711,542 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

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In other news, CFO Martina Hundmejean sold 91,107 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.79, for a total value of $11,824,777.53. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 170,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,138,280.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 29,206 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.33, for a total value of $3,806,417.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 112,473,827 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,658,713,872.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 850,468 shares of company stock valued at $109,574,694. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Mastercard Incorporated (MA) traded up 0.08% during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $141.58. The stock had a trading volume of 6,152,491 shares. The stock has a market cap of $150.77 billion, a PE ratio of 35.13 and a beta of 1.18. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $133.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $122.02. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $99.42 and a 1-year high of $143.52.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The credit services provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.98 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 74.92% and a net margin of 38.30%. Mastercard’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.96 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post $4.43 earnings per share for the current year.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MA. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Mastercard from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 30th. Deutsche Bank AG reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $150.00 price objective (up from $124.00) on shares of Mastercard in a report on Monday, July 10th. Citigroup Inc. increased their price objective on Mastercard from $123.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 19th. Credit Suisse Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, July 7th. Finally, Zacks Investment Research upgraded Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $136.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $138.43.

Mastercard Company Profile

MasterCard Incorporated is a technology company that connects consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses across the world, enabling them to use electronic forms of payment. The Company operates through Payment Solutions segment. The Company allows user to make payments by creating a range of payment solutions and services using its brands, which include MasterCard, Maestro and Cirrus.

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